A civil Society Organisation (CSO), Search for Common Ground (SFCG), has created a high-level inter-religious Early Warning and Early Response platform for Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) to stem the tide of religious conflicts in the country.

The move followed a quarterly report on Promoting and Protecting Freedom of Religion or Belief (PP-FoRB), which revealed that of 786,800 online conversations tracked between January and March, 17.2 percent were positive, 46.9 percent neutral and 36.5 percent negative.

Emphasis of the report was on election and religion, in line with the 2023 general elections, especially the Muslim-Muslim ticket adopted by the All Progressives Congress (APC), as utterances by religious leaders generated religiously-inclined conversations.

The report, which tracked conversations that did not promote religious tolerance, cited a congratulatory message to President Bola Tinubu by the Director of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Prof. Ishaq Akintola, which reads, “We congratulate Yoruba Muslims for securing presidency for the first time since Independence.”

To improve early warning and early response to religious conflicts, the report recommended tracking of conversations and generation of alternative messages that promote religious tolerance and pluralism, stressing that social media should help in producing and disseminating more FoRB messages.

It further called on religious leaders to be sensitive to the feelings and beliefs of other religious bodies in their actions and preachments, in order not to send wrong signals capable of breaching the peace and harmonious existence.

Interim Country Director, SFCG, Fatima Madaki, at the induction and convening of National Interreligious Early Warning and Early Response Platform for Freedom of Religion and Beliefs in Nigeria, yesterday in Abuja, stated that the platform would be involved in identifying drivers of religious conflicts with a view to providing early warning and early response.

According to her, conflicts in Nigeria have some religious colouration, as study has shown that 87 per cent of Nigerians are people of faith, which shows that religion or belief is a huge identifier for Nigerians and this can go both positively and negatively.

Mohammed Alkali, popularly known as Digital Imam, said “Early warning signals to avoid religious conflict are possible” if people eschew religious sentiments.

Rev. Fr. Olorunfemi Ologunwa, if religious tolerance is nipped in the bud, dialogue can be embraced and issues can be sorted out.

He suggested the adoption of early warning and early response to religious conflicts by every sphere of society.